This invention relates to multi-contact electrical connectors and particularly to connectors having improved mounting means for mounting the connector in an opening in a panel.
Application Ser. No. 859,067 filed Dec. 9, 1977, discloses and claims a multi-contact electrical connector comprising an insulating housing having a mating face, a wire-receiving face, and a plurality of cavities extending through the housing from the wire-receiving face to the mating face. Contact terminals are contained in the cavities, the terminals being of the type which are adapted to receive a wire upon movement of the wire laterally of its axis and into a wire-receiving slot in the terminal. After the wire has been connected to the terminal, the wire will extend laterally through a wire-admitting slot in one of the side surfaces of the housing. The connector shown in the above identified application is being enthusiastically received and is coming into widespread use in the electrical industry.
The connector shown in application Ser. No. 859,067 is particularly intended to be mated with side-by-side terminal posts which extend from a panel board or the like. It would be desirable to use the principles of the connector disclosed in the above identified application under other circumstances, particularly, it would be desirable to provide a panel mounting means for mounting the connector in or on a flat panel so that the connector could then be disengageably mounted with a complementary connector in accordance with common wiring practice. Multi-contact connectors having integral latch arms by means of which they can be mounted in panels are widely known, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,891,103, 3,179,738 and 3,573,716. However, to provide integral latch arms on the connectors shown in application Ser. No. 859,067 would cancel out many of the desirable features of that connector. For example, one important advantage of the connector shown in application Ser. No. 859,067 is that wires can be connected to the terminals in the connector by automatic or semi-automatic wire insertion machines of the type shown, for example, in application Ser. No. 846,732, and if the connector of application Ser. No. 859,067 were redesigned so that it would have integral latch arms it could not, with convenience, be used in conjunction with these known insertion machines.
The instant invention is directed to the achievement of a separate panel mounting means which can be added to, or mounted on, an electrical connector housing after wires have been connected to the terminals in the housing of the connector. In accordance with the principles of the invention, a back cover is provided which is dimensioned such that it can be snapped over the wire-receiving face of a connector housing so as to cover the ends of the terminal receiving cavities and protect them. The back cover has flexible latch arms extending therefrom towards the mating face of the connector housing so that the connector assembly comprising the housing and the cover can readily be mounted in a panel opening by merely inserting the connector, mating end first, through the opening until the latch arms engage the edges of the opening.
The back cover in accordance with one embodiment comprises a one-piece molded part which is dimensioned to be assembled to a connector having complementary dimensions. In accordance with an alternative embodiment, an extruded back cover is provided which extends between the ends of the connector housing and separate end caps are assembled to the ends of the housing. The end caps, which are molded parts, have the latch arms integral therewith.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved panel mounting means which can optionally be assembled to a connector housing. A further object is to provide a separate panel mounting means for a connector which is also used under circumstances where it need not be panel mounted so that the user, or harness manufacturer, can use a standard type of connector for a variety of wiring conditions and need not obtain different types of connectors for different applications.